2 year old male veiled chameleon is very small & thin (small casque - any advice?

[OrianaB]

Hello, I posted last night after I thought my chameleon couldn't open his eyes. It turns out he's just an extremely stubborn sleeper and woke up this morning with no problem. But not I have another issue, so bare with me. I just found out his previous owner had him for a year and a half, and I've had him for 3 months, making him about 2 years old. The thing is...he is extremely small, and his casque is more like a female's. He does have the spurs and typical yellow coloring of a male though. But he looks NOTHING like the male veiled chameleon photos I've seen, in which they are plump, big, and have tall casques. Now that he is mine (I was just babysitting before over the summer, but he's officially mine now), I plan on moving him to a screen cage and really putting more effort into taking care of him, since he just seems unhealthy. He is definitely too small for his age and he also looks thin. When I got him, I was instructed to feed him 4 small crickets everyday, but now I feed about 5-10, and they have reptocal powder and I feed them flukes orange cubes. I'm going to start gut loading them with actual vegetables and stuff. But what else can I feed him to help him get bigger? He's only about 4.5 inches long from the tip of his mouth to the vent. I know about all the lighting I need and stuff - I'm just specifically asking about feeders. Pictures can be seen in this post https://www.chameleonforums.com/help-veiled-chameleon-eyes-wont-open-93343/

 

[mcbdz]

I'm new also but would think you could start here:
https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/sandrachameleon/useful-info/

I would assume it has been stunted if he's 2yrs old so I doubt he'll grow in size but should improve in health. Good luck.

 

[carol5208]

I agree, I don't think at two years of age he is going to grow size wise. You can probably put weight on him but I don't know about him growing in length. His bones should already be developed. His growth was stunted probably from improper care such as feeding, supplements and nutrients. Can we see a pic of him? Alot of times when they casque is under developed they can have mbd.

 

[Rango183]

i recently purchase a male veiled and i would give him 12 crickets and some lettuce for a good night snack with a cricket ,and in a week i notice he was so lazy and it was cause he just had guts all over so now i have him on slower feeding of 4 days a week 10 crickets and some lettuce and he seems to be more active .

 

[Rango183]

regardless the only thing you have to do is give him the right supplements and just give it time maybe he still adjusting in a new home since they can stress just by moving their cage to the other side of the room

 

[carol5208]

i recently purchase a male veiled and i would give him 12 crickets and some lettuce for a good night snack with a cricket ,and in a week i notice he was so lazy and it was cause he just had guts all over so now i have him on slower feeding of 4 days a week 10 crickets and some lettuce and he seems to be more active .

how old is your chameleon???

 

[slinko9]

Calcium with no d3 pretty much every feeding and with d3 once every 2 weeks,,,and vitamins once every 2 weeks!!!
Try some Silk Worms nor Horn Worms!!!

Hey Rango,,,Ive heard that feeding them so close to bedtime could be a bad thing,,,just read that they need about 4 hours to digest properly,,,and also read that plain old lettuce wasnt the best for them nutrionally also!!!

 

[Rango183]

my chameleon is about 5 months

 

[carol5208]

Rango, you want to be feeding your chameleon everyday at that age. They are growing still and need plenty of nutrition. Plain lettuce is like feeding water. Try some dark leafy greens such as kale, or mustard greens or collard greens insteadof the lettuce. You chameleon should be eating every day about 15-20 crickets a day. You are under feeding him right now. Also what do you mean there are guts all over the place?